M Y B I L L I E D E S I G N S

Currently // 10

2013-06-18T22:33:00.000-05:00

With my summer break from school I've been able to focus more time on my freelance work, but things in general have calmed down. I've also had a huge lack of social interaction since starting summer break, and I think it's feeding my discontent.

My ultimate dream in life is to be in an airport terminal every 2-4 weeks (even after starting a family), heading somewhere to explore and see new things. Meet new people. Try new food. Take in different scenery. That kind of thing. My heart has been swelling and swelling for quite some time now and I just know I'm not supposed to be here (Mississippi) forever.

I've done a lot of work to make sure that whenever I am able to start travelling all over the place, I wouldn't be running away from anything but instead running towards whatever's next for me. My heart feels like it's reached its capacity for growing here, but I've (mentally) committed to at least two more years of school here. And school itself seems so incapacitating after coming back from a few years off. A few years where I worked full-time and was used to having things like grocery and beer money and money for doctor's visits. And could travel out of state every month and satisfy that craving to explore.

I'm not sure what all of this was meant to say. Sometimes things are just fuzzy and you don't know if you're unhappy because of something inward or outward. And I don't know, I've grown so much inwardly over the past few years, so I can' help but think that maybe it's the outward that needs to change now.

I know deeper posts aren't as fun, so I'll be back tomorrow with something a little lighter. Yesterday I shot a video of myself answering some silly questions from a Tumblr survey, so I'll edit that and get it on here!

[image by Siréliss via my friend Kayla's amazing Pinterest board]

Today is so good.

2013-06-17T12:54:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all! Here's a download for you filled with fun colors, good words and a sweet little pattern.

I've been trying to do more of these but I put so much pressure on myself to come up with something that's really, really, really, really, really, really, really awesome. So I tried to let that go and just MAKE SOMETHING. It's so funny that I do that. Last semester I would walk into my 3D class on group critique days, and on occasion my teacher would just look at my project then look at me and say, "You were over-thinking it again weren't you?" Ask any of my clients, too. It's inhibiting, but it's just so hard for me to let go sometimes.

Anywho. I was inspired by this and this print while designing these. You can download just the heart print, or you can download the print with words. And for iPhone and iPad I like to have one graphic on my lock screen and a different one as my main background, so I made a stripe wallpaper to complete the set. Hope your week is off to a good start! TODAY IS SO GOOD.

DESKTOP hearts | words

IPAD hearts | words | stripes

IPHONE 4 hearts | words | stripes

IPHONE5 hearts | words | stripes

Design party: coding a post divider onto your blog

2013-06-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Alright guys we're at the last post of today's coding series! The coding series deals with using CSS to customize your blog. It's intended for use with Blogger blogs, but some of it may be useful on other platforms! You can check the rest out here: coding for your blog background / css to add a signature to your posts / how to get rid of Blogger image borders.

For this post we're learning the code to install a divider that will go between each of your Blogger posts. The first thing you'll need to do is create your post divider in Photoshop or GIMP. Keep in mind the width of your main post column when creating it. Also make sure you're designing your divider thoughtfully. The main purpose of a post divider is to organize and help viewer's make sense of your blog. When I'm designing them for clients I like to keep them simple and make sure they compliment, not detract from, the design.

Once you've designed your image, upload it to your photo hosting site (I use Photobucket), grab the image's URL and replace the colored URL below with it. Then copy the whole code and paste it into your template editor's CSS section [Template > Customize > Advanced > Edit CSS].

-------------------------COPY THIS CODE-------------------------

.post-footer {

background:url(HTTP://INSERTYOURIMAGEURLHERE.PNG) no-repeat center;

height: 155px;

margin: 0 -10px -80px -10px;

padding: 5px 10px;

}

-------------------------END CODE-------------------------

Breaking down the code:

// 'Post-footer' tells the code what part of the layout we're manipulating.

// 'Height', 'margin' and 'padding' helps map out the position of your divider. You can play around with these numbers to position your divider until it's exactly where you want it!

Check out the rest of the party and be sure to let me know if there's something in mind you'd like to learn how to do! Later on this week I'll share some quick photo editing tips in both Photoshop and GIMP.

Design party: getting rid of those annoying image borders

2013-06-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

We're on PART 3 in the series now holla holla hollaaaa (wanna check part 1 and part 2 out?). In this session we're going to learn how to use CSS to get rid of (in my opinion) the annoying and unsightly image borders that come standard in Blogger layouts.

This one's super super easy! Just paste the code below into your CSS area [Template > Customize > Advanced > Add CSS] and you're done--no customization needed!

-------------------------COPY THIS CODE-------------------------

.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .Profile img, .Image img,
.BlogList .item-thumbnail img {
padding: none !important;
border: none !important;
background: none !important;
-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;
box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;
}

-------------------------END CODE-------------------------

Breaking down the code:

// All the stuff before the { tells the code what should be affected. In this case it includes images used in your posts, any captions that are included with your images, your profile image, etc, etc.

// All of the 'none !important' stuff tells the code that we don't need padding, a border or a background around any images. All the '0px' and 'transparent' parts turn different shadow effects off. Pretty simple!

Check out the rest of the party and be sure to let me know if there's something in mind you'd like to learn how to do!

Design party: coding a signature into each of your posts

2013-06-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

PART 2 in today's coding series is here! (check part 1 out here) This coding series deals with using CSS to customize your blog. It's intended for use with Blogger blogs, but some of it may be useful on other platforms! Read on below to get started.

To start off, create your signature in Photoshop or GIMP then upload it into your photo hosting site of choice (I use Photobucket). Replace the yellow text below with your signature's unique URL then copy and paste the code into the CSS section in your template editor [Template > Customize > Advanced > Add CSS].

-------------------------COPY THIS CODE-------------------------

.entry-content {

padding-bottom: 100px;

background: transparent url(HTTP://INSERTYOURIMAGEURLHERE.PNG) bottom right no-repeat;

margin-bottom: 10px;

}

-------------------------END CODE-------------------------

Breaking down the code:

// 'Entry-content' refers to the area where your posts are.

// 'Padding' is something you can play around with to adjust how far your signature is from the last thing in your post. This is how much space is above your signature. 100px is kind of a sweet spot for signatures in Blogger, but you might want more or maybe less padding. Change the number around and play with it, just make sure you leave 'px' intact!

// You can also change the position of your signature. If you leave the code as is, your signature will be on the bottom right of your posts. You can change "right" to "center" or "left", just make sure you don't mess with the repeat option!

// Playing with the pixels in 'margin' increases or decreases the amount of space between your signature and your comment section--this is how much space is below your signature.

Check out the rest of the party and be sure to let me know if there's something in mind you'd like to learn how to do!

Design party: using CSS to customize your background

2013-06-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is PART 1 of 4 different posts I'll be covering today. All deal with using CSS to customize your blog. This coding series is intended for use with Blogger blogs, but some of it may be useful on other platforms! Read on below to get started...

For those of you with Blogger, you may know exactly what I mean when I say the template editor's background section can be a bit finicky. I've found it's easier to use coding to customize my backgrounds.

To start, you'll need to figure out what you want your background to be. If it's a color, by all means just use the template editor. If you want a pattern though, do your research, make sure you find something that's tileable, then upload it to a photo hosting site (I use Photobucket). Each image should be assigned a specific URL, which is what you'll use when replacing my "HTTP://INSERTYOURIMAGEURLHERE.PNG" text below.

Once you've replaced the URL, copy the whole bit of coding and paste it into the template editor's CSS portion [Template > Customize > Advanced > Add CSS]. You should be able to see the changes immediately! Once you're done, hit "Apply to Blog" and you can exit the editor.

-------------------------COPY THIS CODE-------------------------

body {
background: url(HTTP://INSERTYOURIMAGEURLHERE.PNG);
background-color: white;
background-repeat: repeat;
}.body-fauxcolumn-outer div {

background: none !important;
}

-------------------------END CODE-------------------------

Breaking down the code:

// 'Body' refers to what element we're working with. In this case it's the whole page.

// The repeat option is set to 'repeat', which tells the code to repeat the image both horizontally and vertically. If we had 'repeat-y' that would mean repeat vertically, and 'repeat-x' means horizontally. If you have 'no-repeat' that would do exactly what you think it would do...which is not repeat the image!

// The function of 'body-fauxcolumn-outer div' is a bit unclear to me. I just know without it your background doesn't show up. If you hold all the secrets to this part of the code please comment or inbox me so I can include it (with credit given to you!)

Check out the rest of the party and be sure to let me know if there's something in mind you'd like to learn how to do!

Weekend link list // 04

2013-06-15T10:24:00.000-05:00

[image]

I guess I'm totally immersed in design right now, because a lot of these links are definitely design-related. In the mix today: free fonts, free phone wallpapers, a crepe recipe and much more! And my new all-time favorite infographic: how to woo a designer. If you're a former client of mine please just look over that and tell me where you stand on the matter ha! I've imagined probably too many times that my clients think I'm an idiot and this infographic sure makes me feel validated! What are some of your favorite links around the web this week? Add them to the list by commenting below!!

// The modern dread by Free People. HECK YEAH!

// Some awesome free fonts

// 6 ways to create a culture of innovation

// EVERYONE PLEASE READ: how to woo a designer

// Big brands' logo evolution

// 24 free beautiful cell phone wallpapers

// This is a beautiful website

// Oh my gosh why didn't I know about this personalized website creator for Mother's Day??

// How to make crepes like the French by my friend Lena (Lena, let's reconnect, okay?!)

// Have you always wanted to create an e-course? Then you should check out my new sponsor CourseCraft. If you don't charge an enrollment fee on your course then you don't pay anything, and if you do charge an enrollment fee you only pay 5% of those fees to CourseCraft. GENIUS.

// What's that you say? You're a master at coding and want to partner up with me? Perfect. Check this post out to get more information.

Happy weekend y'all! I'll be back tomorrow with a new design party post!

Freelancing help needed!

2013-06-14T15:29:00.001-05:00

[images]

* each project will be contract based. I have my own set of prices and will need to collaborate with you to determine your rate, which will be included in the final quote that is sent to each client. There will be a contract between me and each web developer as to who gets paid what amount and when, as well as a contract between each new client and My Billie Designs that includes a payment schedule.

** I currently only design for Blogger but am absolutely itching to start designing for Wordpress, Square Space and beyond. Knowledge in these platforms is a huge plus.

*** 'Sip is short for Mississippi. Don't worry, you won't ever have to step foot in this state to work with me!

UPDATE // Please note that this role is intended for web development, meaning I need a coder to help implement my designs on multiple web platforms.

If you've read the information above and think this position sounds like a good fit for you or someone you know, please email me at mybilliedesigns@gmail.com to discuss everything in more detail! Please send along a little bio about yourself along with some of your work to reference. I can't wait to talk with you!

Nomz: baked protein breakfast meal

2013-06-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

This past week I've been focusing on eating only whole, unprocessed foods while pretty much cutting out any kind of dairy and grain. My meals consist of whole fruits, eggs, protein shakes, lean meats (chicken breast, tuna and tilapia) and lots of veggies (asparagus, broccoli, spinach, bell peppers and sweet potatoes, to be exact). One time I cheated and had thai food. It was delicious.

Anyway, I don't really know what you'd call this thing. It was originally supposed to be a protein pancake, and looked absolutely yummy in the pan. Due to its lack of flour, though, it never really stuck together and ultimately became more of a scramble. Which was both weird and delicious. After two mornings of eating scrambled "pancake" I decided to throw the mix in some ramekins (both of these pictured equal one serving) and bake it instead. It turned out great!

Here's what you need: 1/2 cup egg whites, 3/4 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1/3 cup almond milk, 1/2 banana (the riper the better), a handful of blueberries, 2-3 sliced strawberries and as much cinnamon and flaxseed as your heart desires. Oh! And a pinch of baking powder.

Here's what you do: preheat your oven to 375°F. Mix your egg whites, protein powder and almond milk together in a bowl. Mash a banana into the mixture (or you can blend these 4 ingredients together for a smoother consistency--but I like the random banana chunks), then add the remainder of your ingredients. Pour into your baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Mine puffed up while baking but deflated after I took them out of the oven. I'm sure there's a technical baking foul in there somewhere, but the end result was delicious so I'll take it!

If you want to see other recipes using protein powder you should check these out: coffee protein shake and orange and honey protein shake. And sometimes I make a bunch of other yummy stuff too!

Currently // 08

2013-06-11T12:11:00.000-05:00

Did anyone else just love doing myspace surveys back in the day? Cause I did. You know what I'm talking about, right? Just hundreds of questions about what you like, don't like, what you're doing, what you're not doing, when you got out of bed, what you ate 3 days ago at 4 am, how old you were in 1999. That sorta thing. Well, my currently posts are as close as I can get to those days.

Reading // The last book in the LOtR series! Ahh I had a whole marathon of the movies this past weekend. It was amazeballs. I'll probably start reading The Hobbit next (and watch the movie too, of course). Oh, and while we're talking about movies, Oz is out on Redbox this week. HOLLA NOW.

Listening to // "Marathon" by Tennis on Spotify. My best friend has loved this girl for years and I'm only just now starting to get into her music. But now I really love it.

Anticipating // Family vacation to the mountains! We always go to Pigeon Forge, TN, and man, that place is super kitschy and touristy. But I love it so much. This year it's just going to be me, mom and dad, and hopefully J can take the time off of work and come with us. White water rafting, mini golf, hiking to waterfalls, shopping with mom (!!!), amazing BBQ, taking the trolley everywhere and fudge. Dad's such a sucker for fudge.

Eating // Curried chicken salad. It's amazing.

Thinking about // Lately my thoughts have been revolving around what my forever-work will look like. I've said it a million times before, but I've really struggled with being back in school. I know it'll be great to have a degree and a BFA education, but I miss the days of being self-sufficient. While I'm in school I'm supplementing my financial aid with my freelance work, and I think that would be fun to do full-time. Me and J are both leaning towards that line of work, as we're both happiest when we're travelling and exploring, plus we're both on board with homeschooling any kiddos we have down the road. Full-time freelancing just seems like a good fit.

Loving // I'm with my family this week! I've missed them so, so much. It's pretty much heaven to be here now. Plus Maddy just loves being out in the country.

Going // I'll be visiting my sweet Bev this week too, then making a quick trip to Baton Rouge to hang out with Jared before coming back home for Father's Day.

What's been going on with you guys lately? Any fun summer plans? Or winter plans for my friends on the other side of the hemisphere!?

Color party: bright purple

2013-06-10T13:01:00.000-05:00

I'd like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my girl Sierra, for this is her self-proclaimed power color. Sierra, here you go. Eat it all up. Especially anything that comes out of that bright ass purple brownie maker. Maybe wipe your mouth afterwards with that paint chip napkin. Then go about your day looking all sorts of fly in that floral headband or crazy tribal bracelet. Sierra, you already know this, but, I love you.

brownie maker | floral headband | woven bracelet | ceramic pinch pot | maxi dress

My small herb garden!

2013-06-09T16:46:00.001-05:00

fun text outline stuff first seen here

I've tried a million times over the past few years to keep plants alive. I've successfully killed most of them. Vegetables, herbs, flowers, succulents....SUCCULENTS. You know, the ones that are supposed to be kill-proof. I've persevered, though, and have finally kept some alive! And actually, to my credit, one of these plants I've had for maybe two years now. Go me!

This is my second rodeo with basil. The previous time that I owned basil I had no idea what to do with it. I hadn't really cooked with basil and I only had it because Jackon's local gardening guru had given it to me as a gift. I sat it out in the sun with a red pepper plant and barely paid any attention to it. This stuff grew like crazy! Again, it's so sad that I didn't know I should make pesto with it or add it to everything I cooked. This plant should have stayed alive, but I left it in the sweltering sun at my parents' home after I moved out of town and it eventually died, probably from lack of water.

This go-around I decided to get the regular sweet basil along with purple basil. I saw purple basil in a cocktail and thought the color was so beautiful! Both varieties are incredibly easy to keep alive and require almost no maintenance. I water them about once a week.

Next up is cilantro. This is my most-used herb and I can't grow it fast enough! I use it in basicaly everything I cook. And apparently cats really like to eat this stuff too, which is why my first cilantro plant from a couple years ago never made it. This one, though, has grown so much (just not fast enough to use in every meal)! A couple of weeks after I took this picture it even started to grow beautiful little white flowers. I water it about once a week with the basil.

Little helper!

Rosemary (on the right) is even heartier than basil. Leave this in bright sun light and water it once a week and it'll grow like crazy. Seriously, don't baby it or it will shrivel up and die. The sage (on the left) is about the same!

The plant on the right is my lavender. It's probably the most sensitive of all my herbs. It requires watering every few days and I switch up the amount of light it gets every week or so, because honestly I'm still figuring that one out. As a matter of fact, now that it's a few weeks after taking these pictures, my lavender doesn't look even close to as pretty as it does here. I think maybe it got over-watered during a storm we had recently. I'm trying to nurse it back to health though. I might try putting it in fresh soil that's not so damp.

So that's it for my herbs, but the other non-herb plants I own are this pretty exotic plant in the center (it's called Moon Valley because of all the indentions in the leaves), a type of succulent that I can't remember the name of, the aloe that's in the background of the picture above, a jade plant (not pictured), a string of pearls plant (not pictured here, but you can see it in this post) and two air plants (not pictured).

All of those I water 1-2 times a week and they're all okay with only getting light via indirect sunlight. It's best to mist all of the succulents with water from a spray bottle. Another thing to note is that I move the pot with the aloe in it inside every other week. Aloe starts turning icky brown if it stays outside too long, and definitely don't let it sit in direct sunlight for more than a few hours each day. It's just finicky like that.

So I hope this post helps any of you out there who may think you have a black thumb! Do any of y'all have tips to share about your gardening routine?

Weekend link list // 03

2013-06-08T08:01:00.000-05:00

Sooooo. I'm currently having a Lord of the Rings marathon. Extended edition. By myself. And I wish I had more interesting things to tell you, but sadly I don't. It's one of those situations where you keep writing a line or two, then deleting it, then trying something else. But, no. There's nothing else to say. This is it guys.

// I need more simple, comfy dresses in my life

// I'll take this cat print please. Times a million.

// The best guide I've ever found n understanding your camera's exposure settings

// What's your take on flower crowns?

// And what are your thoughts on embellished sandals? I'm more of a boots-all-year-round kinda girl, but I'm sloooowly creeping into the sandal world!

// These are a little out there, but I really, really, really want one of these wall weavings. Preferably this one or this one

// Apparently June is Pride Month. Go gays!! Found out about that via Kyla and her fun rainbow-inspired post.

// Do any of y'all own a white blazer? I have this one from UO and it's perfect. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of in love with this crazy blazer too!

// Three fun looks for summer

// What do your pins say about you?

// My friend Val shared five celebrity skin secrets

// Can someone just get me this crazy dress for my birthday please?

Happy weekend y'all!

[image]

Design party: creating an arrow brush for your photos

2013-06-07T12:18:00.003-05:00

Today we're learning how to create an arrow brush in GIMP! But hold up, if you want to know how to do it in Photoshop, there's a tutorial on it right here! And actually you'll need to go to the same place to download the arrow file. So go do that and come back when you're ready!

What other kind of things do you like to see doodled on photos? Come back next week to learn some cool and useful coding stuff for your Blogger blog!

You can check out other design parties too!

Currently // 07

2013-06-06T12:02:00.001-05:00

I'm combining my currently post for this week with some snapshots that I took last week around my apartment. I'm really trying to figure out my DSLR. I know there's at least a million tutorials out there for exposure but it's honestly still pretty confusing to me. One thing I want to start doing soon is recording my ISO/f-stop/time of day/etc for every picture I take so I can keep up with what's working and what isn't. I'm experimenting with different editing styles too. I'm drawn to so many different types of photography and I want to figure out how to recreate them all. It's been fun playing with angles and composition. And as you can see, I have a favorite test subject (it's Maddy--duh).

Anticipating // Oh this is a big one! I'm relaunching my brand next week. A whole website, complete with it's own design shop, portfolio and blog (of course). I've pretty much got the design finished, so now it's a matter of uploading all the content and getting my domain stuff sorted out. CAN'T WAIT!!

Planning // Until last night I had been planning my friend, Maddie's, 21st birthday party. We threw down last night and it was so much fun! There was lots of photobooth fun, feathers, tacos, face paint and sangria. Now it's nice to relax (just kidding--I never relax) and freelance.

Missing // When I was almost a size two.

Loving // THESE SHOES. And this print from this company.

Going // To join a gym today! That's right size two pants, I'm coming for you.

Making me happy // That I don't have a hangover after last night. BAM.

So what's been going on in your life lately?

Color party: yellow

2013-06-03T10:51:00.001-05:00

Here's a bright dose of happy to help you get ready for the hot summer months coming up!

Design party: GIMP basics

2013-06-02T23:15:00.000-05:00

Hi! Today I'm going over the very-most basics of GIMP. We're going to start with a few of the tabs on the menu bar then finish off by pointing out some of the most commonly-used features in the toolbox and layers window. This is just skimming the surface of each feature, so please play around in GIMP to really get to know all of the tools at hand.

1// Edit Menu. You're going to undo and redo a lot of things as you're experimenting and playing around. As a matter of fact, this is the biggest reason why I love graphic design! It's so much easier to experiment knowing that a paint stroke or crop doesn't have to be permanent. You're also going to be copying, cutting and pasting a good amount of the time. The difference between copying and cutting is that with copying you aren't removing your selection from the image, just duplicating it. When cutting you're taking what you have selected out of the image then pasting it somewhere else in the image. *Take note of the keyboard shortcuts beside each command too. I rarely go to the menu to use each of these tools. I just hit the command key (CTRL key for PC users) + the letter assigned to it. This will become second nature eventually!

2// Select Menu. You'll use this a lot before you cut, copy and paste. From this menu you can select all, deselect or inverse your selection. There are tools that will help you select specific items, but I'll talk about that towards the bottom of this post. Once you have something selected you can also press sharpen to kind of tighten up the selection and make it less pixelated, and you can shrink and grow the selection as well.

3// Image Menu. This is where you manipulate the file as a whole. Mode lets you view the image in RGB and grayscale. Transform flips your image in all sorts of ways (and even lets you do a free-transform with its guillotine function). Canvas size is one of my favorites! It lets you change the size of the canvas without scaling your images up or down. I use it when I've done a lot of graphic work but realize my file needs to be a bit bigger. I use scale image when I want to scale my entire image, graphics included. I use this a lot, mostly when I'm scaling things to the width I use for all of my post images. Because we're all using consistent image widths for all of our post images, right?! I tend to use merge visible layers and flatten image about the same amount. You see, when you're working in photo editing software, you work in layers. If I edit an image with a bunch of layers but then want to copy and paste it into another image, I'll have to flatten the whole thing, or else I'd be stuck copy and pasting each layer, one by one.

4// Windows Menu. This lets you control what windows and docks are open. I like to keep my layers box, toolbox and tool options window open at all times. If you press something randomly and a window you were using disappears, this is where you'd go to find it again.

5// Toolbox. This is a window that sees a lot of action! You can look at the image above to see some of the tools I use the most. You can use the rectangle tool so select things in a square or rectangular form, the circle tool for circle forms, the lasso tool for irregular forms and the magic wand to make a selection by colors within a layer. I think everything else is self-explanatory except for the dodge/burn tool. I mostly use that when I'm touching up photos and want to make something slightly darker or brighter (aka you can use it to make your teeth look all blingy).

6// Layers Window. So in the image above you can see how many layers I used to create the design party graphic at the top of this post. You'll probably also notice that most of the layers are renamed to help me keep up with what's in what layer. DO THIS. It will help you a million.

Within each layer you can control its mode. I'd go into great detail here, but it's already been done in this post by Katrina at Pugly Pixel. She talks about the blending modes in Photoshop, but they serve the same purpose in GIMP. One thing I use a lot when editing photos is the soft light blending mode. I duplicate my background image (found at the bottom of the layers window), move that layer to the very top of the layers, then set its mode to soft light. You can then play with the opacity until you get the effect you want (there's a bunch of other things I'll do when editing photos, but that'll be covered in a future post).

So there you have it, the basics of GIMP stripped down for ya. I know it's not as fun as the others but we've got it out of the way now and can keep moving forward! I'll be back at the end of the week for our next session!

And as always, let me know if you have any questions or need more clarification on any steps/explanations. And of course if you have anything specific you'd like to see in the design tutorial series!

Weekend link list // 02

2013-06-01T18:51:00.001-05:00

Y'all. It's June. WHAAAT? This year is going by so fast! Somebody put on the brakes.

Anywho. I'm back with this week's edition of fun stuff around the internet. I'll be back tomorrow with another design party post so stay tuned for that!

// get your skin summer-ready

//this really is one of the best, most useful DIYs ever

//the most beautiful lace cardigan ever

//genius. GENIUS I TELL YOU!

//I heart overalls

//how to get the best summer hairstyle

//get this polished summer look for less

//WOW. This is a pretty crazy bikini

//this is a really. really. really good idea

//how to get a natural-looking fake tan

//win this beautiful clutch!

See you tomorrow my pretties!

image found here

Out in the country at my parents' home

2013-05-30T14:14:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you guys but I've been missing my family more than ever these days. I've found myself getting homesick a lot the past month..I'm not sure why, but I'll use any excuse I can to spend time with my precious family.

This is Gabby, aka my dad's favorite daughter : ) He has this joke where he'll tell each of us individually (there's three of us girls and then we have an older brother) that that one is his favorite daughter...but we know the truth. It's Gabby.

Maddy loves it at my folk's home. They live out in the country and have a ton of land. There's a big pasture out in the front, where we used to keep our horses, and a pretty backyard with woods behind it. Me and Maddy live in a small apartment, and while we take regular walks and get lots of play time, it's so nice to just let her run free.

Dad grilling some chicken and veggies : )

Flowers and plants. EVERYWHERE.

These are "the boys". My three sweet (cough cough) nephews. John Michael doesn't like his picture taken so I made sure to cut his head off : ) Aiden's in the middle and Landon is my little wild child (if you can't tell by the picture). You can see his cactus, Roger, below.

Landon didn't want Roger to feel lonely so he brought him some friends for warmth and company (aka grass).

And this sweet baby is our Kinsley, the golden child. Aka the only girl.

New kicks (and dirty knees)! I heart velcro, I really really do.

My family is so, so special to me. At times they've been all I've had to lean on. And to say that they are gracious and giving and loving and understanding is completely an understatement. I honestly can't wait to have my own family so I can share that kind of love. It gets so big in my heart sometimes that I think I might burst. But instead I just shove it on Maddy and make her deal with it : )

Pasta with a fried egg + sweet tea vodka cocktail

2013-05-28T16:13:00.002-05:00

This is a really quick dinner I cooked up for myself last night. And bonus points: it's just all the random things I had in my fridge and pantry. It's whole wheat linguine with a fried egg, feta, red pepper vodka sauce and pepperoncini mixed in. It looks all pretty here but after I snapped these pictures I immediately mixed it all together. And inhaled it.

My drink is a 12 oz mason jar with about 2 ounces sweet tea vodka, 2 ounces blood orange soda, a squeeze of lime juice, a handful of ice and it's topped off with cold water.

Seriously, this meal was gone before I even realized it. Which was a bit sad but I'm thinking about making it again for dinner tonight!

Color party: green

2013-05-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Green used to be my absolute favorite color. Then coral happened. But still. I love pairing green with every other color (not gonna lie...green + red combos are my absolute favorite) and it always seems to liven up the dullest situations. Succulents, margaritas, basil, limes, that scarf or clutch from above, etc. Green is a way of saying, "I'm serious...about partying. Or fun. Or not taking things too seriously."

So thanks green for being so awesome and stuff.

wire basket | cedar soap | bathing suit | necklace | socks

Design party: adding numbers + text to your collage in GIMP

2013-05-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

So here's the second half of the design tutorial for creating and customizing a collage in GIMP*. Yesterday we made the actual collage and today we'll be adding numbers and text to it to add a little bit of organization and personality.

In the picture above I've added numbers to my collage. The circled numbers are actually a font that you can download called Fyra, and they're suuuper handy and useful. In this image I typed in the numbers then added a white circle behind each one to make them stand out a little better against the background. To learn how to add text, read on below!

1 // After you've created your collage you'll need to create a new layer. Then you'll select the rectangle tool and draw a shape on your collage (click, hold down your cursor and drag out til you've got your shape). Use the paint bucket fill tool to add color.

2// I always adjust opacity on my shapes when they're over a photo. That's a personal choice because I like how it looks, but I've seen stuff like this done on photos where the opacity was left at 100% and it looked great too! Just experiment to find what you like!

3// Click the "duplicate layer" icon to copy this shape into another layer. Drag to the next image on your collage and keep doing this until you've got boxes on all of your images.

4// Now it's time to add your text! For this collage my goal is to list some of my favorite past DIYs, so I'm going to give a title to each image so readers will know what each one is for. Just select your font tool, drag the box where you want it to be then type in what you want it to say (in the box that pops up).

5// Next we need to customize the font. Go to the Tool Options box and select which font you want to use, as well as the size and what color you want it to be.

6// Repeat steps 4+5 until you're done!

These are some different options of how you could customize it. Play around and experiment with your software and have fun with it!

*GIMP is a free photo editing program and can be used as an alternative to Photoshop. This design party series will cover tutorials in both programs, but I've opted to (re)start the series with a focus on GIMP. I feel the basic kind of information I wanted to start the tutorials off with will benefit those who may feel that designing graphics and images isn't necessarily their forté, and who may have thought they would never be able to learn the basics otherwise.

You can click here to read how to download the software for yourself.

I've got a lot of stuff planned for this series, but this stuff is for you guys. If you have an idea for a tutorial please leave it in a comment or email me directly. Check back next week to read about the basic functions in GIMP, and how you can use them to create the graphics you want!

Weekend link list // 01

2013-05-24T18:00:00.000-05:00

garden image by Cosmos+George via Bea

Happy weekend y'all! Any plans for Memorial Day weekend? Jared came down with a really bad sinus infection earlier this week so I made the trip to Baton Rouge to nurse him back to health. Or something like that. We'll probably do something really low-key, and I'll probably be working on my computer for the better part of the weekend. I've got a really big change coming to My Billie Designs within the next week so I've got to get everything ready for it!

Here's some fun stuff for you to check out if you need a little more internet perusing in your life (that was half sarcastic).

//I'll take this whole outfit, please + thank you

//check out the perfect memorial day outfit (stripes, a denim jacket and a top knot, oh my!)

//the best memorial day sales to shop plus a reminder of what this weekend is supposed to really be about

//WHY in the world am I obsessed with lemons on clothing lately? I don't know, but here's a post on how to wear lemon print!

//my favorite way to dress: mostly black with a POP of color

//maybe you should try wearing a turban this summer!

//Solange Knowles always knows how to dress herself. Check her out in this top 10 looks from the Cannes Film Festival

//I'm in LOVE with this clutch, dress + shoes

//Molly featured me in a post about what makes me feel brave--thanks Molly!

//my new instagram friend shares a crap ton of awesome one piece bathing suits

//my favorite internet find this week (it involves another fruit!)

That's it folks! Be safe and have a great weekend : )

Design party: making a collage in GIMP

2013-05-24T00:56:00.002-05:00

Howdy! Man, I've been busy busy at work with this tutorial! And as a matter of fact, while in the middle of it I realized I should probably go even further into the basics of GIMP for anyone out there who is brand spanking new to it. So today I'll keep with my original plan of showing you how to do a basic square collage, then tomorrow we'll go over different ways to add wording+numbers to bring some organization to it, and next week I'll start my three part series about the basic functions we'll use over and over again in these tutorials.

Okay, for those of your who are unfamiliar with it, GIMP is a free photo editing program that can be downloaded in the Mac App Store or you can download it here for non-Mac users. I used this software for about 6 months before getting a copy of Photoshop. To me it can be a little awkward to navigate around at first, and it's much less user-friendly than Photoshop, but it definitely gets the job done! Plus I'm here to help you create beautifully basic images and graphics for your blog or shop.

Collages are a really useful thing to have on your blog. You can use them for absolutely anything! I often use them for my color party posts, sponsor highlights and DIY inspiration posts. In this tutorial I'm using a collage to highlight some of my favorite DIYs from the past (links for each DIY can be found at the bottom of this post). We'll talk about adding the numbers tomorrow!

So download the software then come back and join the party! I recommend reading through the whole tutorial first then opening up GIMP and playing with your collage. I promise it'll help! Here goes.

1// Once GIMP opens click File>New to create a new image*.

2// Set your dimensions for the file. My blog images are 600px wide so that's what I always set for my width**. Most blogs use widths between 500-550px, so do whatever you're comfortable with! The height for your collage is totally up to you. In this case and for simplicity's sake, my image will be a square, so width and height are the same.

3// Immediately after creating any new file I save it. There's a million different file types you can save an image as, most of which I know nothing about. The main file formats I use are .jpeg, .png, .gif and .psd (for Photoshop), but in this case we'll use the GIMP extension (.xcf). The main thing you need to know right now is that .jpeg and .png files flatten any layers in your collage (you'll see what I'm talking about as we go on) and .psd and .xcf save the file while keeping the layers intact. So name your file whatever you'd like, in whatever folder you want to keep it in, click the dropdown menu towards the bottom of the box and click GIMP XCF image. Hit save. I hit the "save" button about a million times while working on a graphic. You never know when the software or your computer will crash, when you'll accidentally exit out of the program, or who knows what. I've lost way too much work in my early days to not do this and I'm really hoping you can learn from my negligence!

4// Okay! So we've created a blank file for our collage, renamed it and saved it in .xcf format. Now we need to open up our images that will be going into the collage***.

5// Now lets crop this down to the size we'll need for the collage. Click the crop tool from the Toolbox. In the Tool Options window click "fixed", select "aspect ratio" from the dropdown menu and type in 1:1 for the ratio. This will lock in a square format.

6// Click on your image and drag the box out until it's the size you want. Position it how you want it then hit enter.

7// BAM. You're amazing.

8// Now we need to scale the image to make sure it fits the dimensions for it's corner of the collage. Click Image>Scale Image.

9// It's going to be taking up half of the width and half of the height of my collage, so I'm going to change the original dimensions to 300 for both width and height. Make sure pixels is selected in your dropdown menu. Hit "scale".

10// Now we're going to copy this image and paste it into our collage. Go to Select>All.

11// Go to Edit>Copy.

12// Go back to your collage and click Edit>Paste.

13// Image will paste onto the collage (**see step 15 for some side note information). Hold your cursor over the image and drag it to where you want it in your collage.

14// Repeat steps 4-13 until you have all the images pasted into your collage.

15// As I said at the beginning of this tutorial, GIMP is kind of awkward to navigate and isn't the most user-friendly. One of my main annoyances with this program is that you have to double click each new layer when you paste it in and rename the file for it to show up. You can see what I'm talking about in the image above. The bottom left corner is supposed to have an image but it's just a blank square with a dashed rectangle around it. Awkwaaard.

16// To fix this just double click the layer and rename it something awesome (like "ombre braid"). After you rename the layer it shows up on the collage. You're so smart.

17// So now we've got all of our images into our collage and I'm so freaking proud of you. Like, mama bird proud of you (that's an inside joke between and my best friend but I'm hoping you still get the sentiment). It's like you just freaking flew from the nest for the first time. GO. YOU. Take a victory lap around the park and then come back to mama...cause now we need to add in some finishing touches. Select the little page icon at the bottom of your Layers window so we can add a new layer to the file.

18// We're going to create dividers for the images. To do that hit your rectangle tool in the Toolbox, then click one edge of your image and drag your cursor to the other side. While still holding down the cursor you can play with the height of the rectangle, but I wouldn't make it too thick, unless you're going for that kinda thing.

19// After you've created your rectangle space, click the paint bucket tool, then double click the top box that's a couple rows underneath the paint tool (these are your swatches). A box opens up so that we can select the color we want. I like white dividers and obviously that's what I recommend you use too. Just looks nice and clean. Hit the bottom right corner then click "ok". We're getting soooo close to the end here. I promise!

20// Put your cursor inside of the rectangle shape you just created, then click. It should fill in the space with white (if you messed up and filled in the wrong space, just hit Edit>Undo Move and try again).

21// Duplicate that layer by hitting the button highlighted above.

22// That just made another layer with the same line. Now we're gonna hit Layer>Transform>Rotate 90° clockwise.

23// And BAM. Collage is officially made, complete with dividers. Make sure you save again (as well as a BAZILLION TIMES all throughout this process). Actually, save it twice when you're done..once as the .xcf file and the next time as a .png/.jpeg file (that way you can come back and edit the layers if you need to).

Hopefully this wasn't too hard to bear, and even moreso, I hope you're excited about what all I know you can do! Leave a comment below or email me directly if you have any questions or need clarification on something. Also, please check out the notes below as they have a lot to do with the images you create once they're ready to be posted on your blog!

*The arrow seen on these images was created by Jess at I Rock So What. You can see+download it here for yourself, as well as check out all of the other fun free stuff she creates. All graphics and printables are free for personal use only.

**If you like looking awesome (<--peer pressure, I know) it's really important to create images that remain a consistent width. I hear that all the time from many a blogger, but still see crazy-sized images on blogs everywhere. So it's worth saying again and again in my opinion! It creates a cohesion to your blog layout and shows thoughtfulness and attention to detail.

***Please please PLEASE link back to the original source if you use images that you haven't created. If you find an image from someone who also didn't create it but they've linked the original source, link the original source and, if you wanna be nice, you can credit them too. I find a lot of images on Pinterest from people who curate amazing collections of pretty things, and I like to lead others to their collections. You can click here to see what I'm talking about

DIYs featured in collage:
personalize your moleskin notebooks | ombre at home | easy maxi skirt DIY | agate necklace DIY

Protein shake with orange + honey

2013-05-22T13:01:00.001-05:00

Um. YUM y'all. When I worked as a barista we had this frozen dreamsicle drink that mixed orange juice and white chocolate with a vanilla powder mix and it was delicious. This is my healthy version of that drink! I used two whole oranges (unpeeled, of course), honey and a scoop of vanilla protein powder. You put all of that in a blender along with half a glass of ice and about 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of your liquid preference (dairy/soy/almond/coconut milk or water). Add more liquid as necessary while blending. I'm really a guestimator in the kitchen, so just eyeball the honey. Just remember it's always easier to add a bit more later than to fix it if it's over sweetened! Don't be crazy, okay?

Protein shakes are really great post-workout meals. You can make them quickly and take them on the go if you're in a rush after your workout. They're also a really good supplement if you eat a mostly vegetarian diet like I do. I've heard complaints about how expensive protein powder can be, but the Target brand is really delicious and is very affordable. I'm talking $15 for 30+ shakes.

I've got a tutorial on a really yummy coffee protein shake too and lots of delicious ones coming your way over the summer.

Do you drink protein shakes? How do you drink yours? And have you ever noticed how "protein" is the one exception from the "I before E except after C" rule? WEIRD.